OC Weekly Lays Off Staff Writer :-(

Man, God sure knows how to fuck with you: just one day after dominating the OC Press Club Awardswith the type of reporting that led the New York Times to describe us as a "lively journal," the numbers people came to me with something I feared might happen: I needed to lay off a staff writer.

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK :-(

No real mystery as to why: the paper ain't as big as it used to, due to the Great Recession and the Brave New World of digital ads blah blah blah. Worst part was that every single staffer we had is AWESOME, so I had to decide who'd leave by relying on the eternal Weekly tiebreaker: seniority.

But before ustedes at Calvary Chapel and $cientology rejoice too much...

...Josh will still be writing for us.

The OCeeker, his hilarious church reviews? Will still be in the paper and online. He's working on a couple of covers that'll blow people away. And once I scrounge up more pesos by selling off some of my first-edition Hubert Howe Bancroft books, I want Josh to continue to contribute to Navel Gazing--and you'll probably see more of him on Heard Mentality, 'cause Nate has a bit more money in the budget that I.

Sorry, Josh: nothing personal. You're one of the best peckerwoods I've had the pleasure of knowing. Now, excuse me as I go back to swimming in Jim Beam and howling at the state of modern journalism.

Gustavo Arellano is the editor of OC Weekly, author of the syndicated column "¡Ask a Mexican!", and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He started at the paper with an angry, fake letter to the editor and went from there—only in Anacrime!